Phoenix is pegged as sweatiest U.S. city

CINCINNATI, Ohio, June 26 (UPI) -- Phoenix tops the seventh annual Top 100 Sweatiest Cities List by Old Spice that purports to measure the total sweat produced by entire city populations.

The annual sweat ranking is based on the amount of perspiration produced by each person in each municipality. To earn the label as sweatiest city, Phoenix's average temperature was 95.1 degrees in June, July and August 2007, resulting in the average Phoenix resident dripping 26.4 ounces of sweat per hour.

Why does a desert city top the sweatiest city list four out of the seven years the list has been complied?

"People might be surprised that a city known for its 'dry heat' tops the sweatiest cities list," Paul Ruscher, associate chairman of the meteorology department at Florida State University, said in a statement. "However, sweat tends to evaporate from the skin much more quickly in places like Phoenix and people just don't feel it as much as say in New Orleans or Miami where high humidity leads to that dreaded sticky, 'muggy' feeling."

Following Phoenix, is Las Vegas; Tallahassee, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; Memphis; Miami; Houston; Tampa, Fla.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Fort Myers, Fla.